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Thursday, July 28, 2011

I found this post from my long lost archive, all drafted...and now, here it is 4 years later! I have also lost the original photos :o(. Well, I've always enjoyed the food from Purple Cane Tea Restaurant and somehow enjoy dining at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall outlet (is that the HQ?) more than Midvalley. Maybe it's about having these Chinese dishes in such a place that adds "character" to it? Hahaha...anyway, it's about time I post this. Enjoy!

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Crouching Audience & Hidden Tea Leaves!

Fighting the downtown traffic and finally arriving at this restaurant located in Jalan Maharajalela, calmness swept over me when I stepped into Purple Cane Tea Restaurant. I had no idea why but I guess it might be due to the fact that I was greeted warmly by one of the staff with a very sweet smile who proceeded to usher me towards the table where my friends were already seated.

The retail counter

Looking ahead, I could see that the restaurant was almost at full capacity and just before the seating area, there was a retail counter selling all sorts of tea leaves, tea pots & cups and other accessories. Instead of taking my seat, I delayed myself along the way (much to the amusement of the staff who was there and probably annoyance to my friends as they waited!), I whipped out my camera and started taking photos. What truly caught my attention though was this particular staff who was seated close to the ground and she was brewing tea for customers to sample – with all the pots and cups displayed on a big rustic wood log table just at the side. I joined some of the others who surrounded the table and crouched down to have a better look and was mesmerized by the whole process. The staff began to explain about the different type of tea leaves and even how important it is to follow a certain process, from having the right ambiance, the proper way of brewing tea right down to type of water used for getting a perfect brew.

Watching the tea brewing process

When I finally joined my friends at the table, I noticed that there were different teapots. There were two of each, one for storing the hot water and the other with the tea leaves which we poured the hot water into. The small metal container that you see in the photo belongs to my friend who had brought along his own tea leaves in it.

Monday, July 25, 2011

It's been a while since I got around to accepting a food review invitation since I've been busy running around and when J Tean Kitchen extended one, I did - mainly because it's a stone's throw (well, make it 10 or so but who's counting? hahaha..) away from my home. Not only did the group of us had the opportunity to taste some delicious food but it was also that day that I was introduced to James Tean, the owner of J Tean Kitchen. I was glad as I finally met the man behind the wonderful Tean's Gourmet Malaysian Traditional Curry Laksa paste. I normally buy packets & packets of them for Mrs Pitt and friends who are residing overseas. It's always a hit with the food crowd. Well, Tean's other paste are all pretty good too as Mrs Pitt has tried several of the varieties and told me they are all GOOD! Malaysians overseas must have these in their pantry!

Anyway, back to meeting Master Tean himself (as he's popularly known by that name), we sat down with him and had lunch together. As we took photographs of the dishes, he brought us through the story of how J Tean Kitchen came about. It has much to do with the support and encouragement of his friends who mooted the idea of him doing a restaurant business using his over 30 years of expertise in the food manufacturing industry with his line of Tean's Gourmet products (e.g. like his famous Bak Kut Teh herbs & spices pack for instance). Hence, J Tean Kitchen was born ... and now begins our feast with some East meets West fusion dishes.

Friday, July 15, 2011

And now back to my Canadian post for awhile. Continuing from the previous Canadian post where I highlighted some sights, let's take a look at our dinner that we had in Ottawa on the first night. After walking up and down the streets for awhile, we finally made up our mind to dine at The Grand, settling for something Italian.

The Grand's brick building is lovely to look at and does have some grandeur to it. It was packed and we had to wait a while before we got our table, sitting outside. We enjoyed the fresh air and cool temperature and I didn't really get a chance to take photos of the interior. When I did go in to go to the washroom, I came across this ...

I just love looking at the photos on the wall ... it evokes a very nice and warm feeling

Of course the complimentary bread basket was brought before us and while the food took quite some time to arrive, we enjoyed the soft bread - dipping it into the balsamic vinegar & olive oil. We were famished, thanks goodness we had the bread to munch on first.

Monday, July 11, 2011

I love this! I Heart Yogurt has won me over. I'm head over heels in love with their froyo (frozen yogurt) - it's yummy and prices are reasonable. It's my current favourite place for my yogurt fix. What's not to love?

Usually two flavours are available...original and seasonal. The one that I've been eating, Mango; it varies from time to time. You can have it mixed or in single flavour and it is available in three sizes -

After getting your order with the premium toppings (they have over 40 types for us to choose from!)...move on to get even more. For a limited promo period till further notice (no specific dates given)-head towards the left side of the service counter and there are a myriad of different toppings where customers can help themselves to, as much as the cup can fit (only once...no repeat trips please). Gasp! Have I gotten your attention yet??? Quick, go treat yourself to some froyo love at I Heart Yogurt now (before promo ends..but then even when promo is over, it's still worthwhile going). So as I said, I've been making trips here...Look at my "baby", hee hee...

Pic taken with HTC Sensation

This is the medium cup. The three complimentary toppings that I usually choose : Kit Kat fingers, Strawberry "Rocky" biscuit sticks and Oreos (plus points as the Oreos are in pieces and not in powdery form like some places, I love crunching into it with the yogurt). For this order, I went on to the side and added white chocolate bits, white and milk mixed chocolate bits and strawberry wafer rolls. Bliss! Yes, I paid only RM13.50 for this cup of froyo.

Friday, July 08, 2011

The last part of the food pic series on Starhill's Midsummer Nights Feast 2011 ends with this post (today is also the last day of the event). For further enquiries and reservations, do call +603-2782 3855.

We start of with Sentidos Tapas and then Spice of India and Jake's. There were just too much food that day and by the time I made my rounds, it was too late to cover Shook!, Village Bar and Tarbush (making it a total of 13 participating outlets) and didn't get the names of some of the dishes. It feels like I didn't meet the time of some Masterchef Australia series, hahah...asking questions, taking photos and food tasting, hahaha....(leaving out the main part, cooking!) So, enjoy the pics as much I had enjoyed rushing from one outlet to another :o)

It happens that Sentidos Tapas was also launching some new items on that day. They call it "Out Of The Box" Tasting Menu - inspired by The Fat Duck. Here's part of the new line up :-

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

If you were still here, we'll be celebrating your 81st birthday this year
If you were still here, we'll be out eating all your favourite food
If you were still here, we'll be watching the new Hawaii Five-O series
If you were still here, we 'll be going for our weekly movie outing

If you were still here, we'll be enjoying ourselves on holidays
If you were still here, we'll be singing and recording our songs
If you were still here, we'll tell you constantly how much we love you
If you were still here....

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